


Ocean of Blood Outtakes

by clenastia



Series: Revolutions are Born of a Thousand Small Fires [3]
Category: Fairy Tail, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: F/M, M/M, Outtake, a different idea, alternate ch.4, i didnt want to inolve fairy tail that much tho, scrapped chapter, so i scrapped it to rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26670979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clenastia/pseuds/clenastia
Summary: Outtakes from my other fic, An Ocean of Blood Between Us - currently just a different Chapter 4, which I decided I didn't like and rewrote entirely.
Relationships: Zeref Dragneel/Mavis Vermillion, Zeref Dragneel/Reborn (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)
Series: Revolutions are Born of a Thousand Small Fires [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787686
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Ocean of Blood Outtakes

**Author's Note:**

> It'll probably just be this, Ocean of Blood should not be more than five chapters, so this fic will be marked as complete for now. But for anyone who wants to see it, here's the original chapter 4 before I decided a rewrite was necessary!  
> (the real reason I rewrote it, aside from too much FT guild, is because if I kept this chapter I'd have had to add at least TWO more chapters to my total count, and I'm just not mentally prepared for that right now).  
> (maybe one day you guys)

Viper scowls at the Archive displays hovering in front of them. When they’d first sold the information of the Black Wizard’s presence to that lowlife, they didn’t expect much to come of it, perhaps a resurgence of cultist activity to give them a chance to poke their noses in some sensitive places a bit more safely…

But Reborn is a greater assassin than Viper realized, and now it seems as though the entire world is aware of the byplay. Because for some reason, the Black Wizard hasn’t even tried to hunt Reborn down outside the assassin’s own attempts, and no one knows  _ why _ .

Nearly every legal body, from the Magic Council to even the smallest guilds have started looking into it, and the number of criminal organizations is more than even Viper cares to keep track of.

But a little less than a month ago, both the Black Wizard and Reborn disappeared from  _ everyone’s _ radar.

The only clue Viper’s been able to find is the disappearance of a circus acrobat on the continent.

Which might have been more of a clue, if the acrobat were anyone other than Skull. Viper remembers the kid, mostly for the information Skull was willing to trade Viper as long as the Esper erased him from all legal records and helped him disappear.

It was Skull’s information that led Viper to discovering the Black Wizard’s continued survival in the first place.

And now he’s missing. Along with both Reborn  _ and _ the Black Wizard.

Something’s happened. Some fools might expect Reborn and the Wizard to have killed each other, but Viper knows better.

They’ll get to the bottom of it.

Then they’ll just need to figure out who will pay them the most for the information…

* * *

Magnolia is nearly unrecognizable. It’s been almost eighty years, but somehow Zeref’s still surprised by how much it’s  _ changed _ . Even the streets aren’t laid the same way, and within five minutes, he’s lost.

He thinks that maybe he doesn’t want to speak to Fairy Tail much regardless.

It’d take a moment to teleport to their doorstep. 

Instead, he wanders the streets and pointedly refuses to ask for directions.

He promised Mavis he’d buy her some silly action figures, and he’d just like to… hide out on her island for a while. Reborn won’t find him there, and he can just…

Think.

Or not.

He’s not sure, but at the very least he doesn’t want to go back without even getting her what he promised, so he hunted down some bandits and robbed  _ them _ for jewels so he could buy some models.

But when he thinks about walking up that hill to the guild hall, to actually buy them, it’s like he can’t breathe, his throat tight and hands unsteady-

He tries to blame the clothes, the unusual modern fashion he’s really not used to, but he wanted to blend in so he didn’t cause any problems for her guild so he puts up with it-

“Oh don’t you look familiar!”

Zeref spins around, tamping down his magic until he’s less than nothing to anyone with senses, and lays eyes on a woman hunched with age, wrinkled and bowed over a walking stick.

He freezes, confused, because she’s no Councilman or hunter or cultist, her magic a weak thing, something to do with paint…?

_ Oh. _

“Lenna-san. You’re still alive?”

He regrets it as soon as he speaks, he should have walked away and ignored her, but… Magnolia’s so different, he hadn’t even considered that some people from back then might still be alive.

Lenna smiles. “Aa, I thought you were that boy in the field back then! Did your lady ever come to meet you?”

Zeref shrugs, uncomfortable. “Why do you even remember me? We barely spoke.”

Lenna laughs, a rough thing that quickly turns to coughing. “I was a young thing, and you were a dark, mysterious man. Waitin’ in a field of flowers for a mysterious lady, wouldn’t even tell your name to a pretty young girl, wearin’ black and lookin’ pale as death, oh I must have had that crush for  _ years _ . Went to that field all the time hopin’ to spot you again. Even painted some pictures! Always figured your lady must have been a lucky one, t’catch your eye. Never thought I’d see you again though, t’be honest. Y’were like a dream, and dreams never come back. But here ye stand, haven’t even aged a day! Thought I was mistaken seein’ you cut through the streets…” she trails off, leaning heavily on her cane, and-

Zeref remembers her only because of how  _ rarely _ he spoke to anyone, each interaction that didn’t end in death something to be cherished. But it was her magic he remembered most clearly, the ability to conjure paint from her fingertips, which she used to capture the field of flowers he’d been waiting in with perfect clarity.

He spent nearly a week after that trying to recreate it to use himself, only to find he was as terrible an artist with magic as he was with pens and brushes.

He doesn’t know how to respond, not to her feelings, or her surprise, but…

“You should probably get rid of those pictures.” He crosses his arms, makes himself ignore the brief flash of hurt that sparks in the woman’s eyes. “Surely by now even you’ve realized who I am. You’d get in trouble for them.”

“Well.” Lenna says after a long pause. “I won’t say immortals are really common ‘round these parts. It ain’t hard to guess. But I’m an old woman, and if I want to keep some pictures I drew as a child, who are they t’stop me? ‘Nless you’re plannin’ on causin’ some trouble that’ll get me noticed?” her shoulders tense as she asks, and Zeref wonders if she’d try to stop him.

Of all the people in Magnolia, now a sprawling city with what must be a large population, he wonders how his path crossed  _ hers _ .

That’s- surely, too coincidental? Probably the  _ only _ person in the city old enough to have been alive back then, to have ever  _ seen _ him and recognize him?

Someone who looked at him all of once, and saw…

Something to admire?

He wonders if some god is meddling in his life, but Ankseram wouldn’t do this, and he can’t imagine any other bothering to interfere.

The woman, Lenna, tenses even further, clearly unsettled by his lack of response, but-

Zeref doesn’t know what to  _ say _ . He just- wanted to buy some things and run back to Tenrou and  _ hide _ , maybe forever, and now-

“Ohoho! Is there a problem here?”

_ Yuri’s son _ , Zeref thinks as he turns to glance at the old man. He remembers Yuri better than Makarov, remembers the man’s skill with lightning, the joy on his face as he shaped it, the way the magic sent flickers of light splashing across the bridge of his nose like glowing freckles.

Precht was always cautious and Warrod always quiet, but it was Yuri and Mavis who were the daring ones, Mavis with her compassion and Yuri with his jokes and friendly ribbing.

He thinks, if ever the curse would surge, it would do so here and now - with Yuri’s own son bare feet from him - and he wonders if it’s only his imagination that the grass poking between the cobblestones wilts a little at the thought.

“I don’t know,” Lenna says with surprising hesitance, and Zeref wonders if his thoughts showed too clearly on his face.

He used to be a great actor, he knows.

“Is there?” Lenna asks him, and he can feel her staring pointedly, though he doesn’t look away from Makarov.

This is-

More proof than a random circus could ever be.

He thinks he’d like to run away again, but.

He’s already here, and…

He owes Mavis this much at least, surely.

“I was heading for the guild hall actually.” He says after a moment, and shrugs with a smile. “I got a bit lost is all.”

It’s a weak excuse, with the city laid out as it is, and Makarov’s attention sharpens.

“Is that so?” The guild Master asks, glancing past Zeref to Lenna.

“I think if Zeref were up t’anythin’, he’d’a done it by now.” she says after a moment, and Zeref supposes that’s how she’s decided to handle his silence when she asked what he was planning.

Something like fear flashes through Makarov’s eyes, quickly buried behind a fighter’s calm.

Zeref thinks it hurts a little to see, but-

His own reputation, as accidental as some of it was, precedes him, and he doesn’t even know where to begin to reveal the truth.

Or if he even wants to.

It’s his fault, after all, that Makarov’s mother is dead, however indirectly.

And most certainly his fault that  _ Mavis _ is.

He’s not even sure if he deserves to tell the truth.

So he smiles, a lie to the world, and lets Makarov draw his own conclusions.

“Well. I’ll show you the way then.” Makarov’s voice is lined with suspicion, but he starts walking with a slow, ambling pace.

Zeref’s not sure how to acknowledge Lenna, so he doesn’t, just steps up alongside the guild Master and follows him through the winding streets.

He doesn’t say anything when they go the wrong way.

He didn’t expect-

Well. Nothing’s been going how he expected it to, lately.

And Fairy Tail was never big on doing what was ‘expected’ of them in the first place.

At least that much hasn’t changed.

* * *

“Why  _ Magnolia _ ?” Reborn asks Leon.

“Because… he’s trying to avoid you?” Skull answers, hugging his stupid octopus.

“I didn’t ask  _ you _ , Lackey.”

“Wha- Leon can’t even answer you, he’s a  _ lizard _ !” Skull protests, loudly.

Reborn considers killing him again, but Skull moans and complains so  _ much _ every time he does…

_ Zeref _ never complains, and Reborn really misses the presence of a guy who’ll come back from the dead and chat about the spells Reborn used.

Instead of how much they hurt, or itch, or whatever else Skull’s complaint-of-the-day will be.

But even so, Zeref’s been avoiding anywhere public since that night on the continent, so the fact that he decided to go into a city, and  _ Magnolia _ at that…

He knows there’s a guild here. Fairy Tail’s antics are so well known that he couldn’t  _ not _ hear about them, even if he wanted to.

But he’s never really looked into them, they’ve never been a target of his, and they’ve never been one of the guilds to interact with his targets either.

The city itself isn’t really known for its magic though, they have a couple bookstores but nothing catering to the rare or esoteric.

So it has to be the guild.

“Let’s go, Lackey.” Reborn orders, heading up the main road toward the guild.

Skull takes a pathetically long time to catch on, and they’re nearly at the doors when he realizes.

“Wait-! Aren’t you some sort of criminal? Why are we going  _ towards _ the guild? They don’t seem dark!”

Reborn scoffs, because of  _ course _ the Lackey thinks you can recognize a yami guild by appearance, and doesn’t answer. He pushes the doors open and scans the assortment of mages in the hall, making a game of how many specializations he can guess.

Most of them, he’s fairly certain, though a couple give him pause.

Zeref’s off to the side, speaking to someone near a back room, posture tense.

“Well at least I don’t have to keep looking for you,” he muses loudly, walking towards the mage.

Zeref flinches.

“I know you’re avoiding me. Aren’t you even going to tell me what I did? I thought we had something!” Reborn speaks dramatically, clutching at his heart. 

Someone laughs, but Zeref flinches  _ again _ , so noticeably that nearly everyone stares.

_ Now  _ **_that’s_ ** _ interesting. _

He’d just been teasing, really, playing up the audience because if anyone tries to arrest him Zeref will likely bolt again but-

Well.

He can work with this.

* * *

Makarov has heard of the assassin pursuing the Black Wizard, of course. He recognizes him when the person known only as Reborn enters his guild hall, a nervous purple-haired young man shuffling in behind him.

At the very least, it’s proof that old Lenna wasn’t lying, and that Zeref really is the boy awkwardly trying to buy action figures for ‘a friend’. He’d begun to doubt, in all honesty.

_ Now what? _ He wonders, because he’s used to his guild hall exploding in spectacular fashion, and pretends not to know about the betting pool of how the building will crumble next - he’s lucky it’s only a couple times a year, he’d never be able to afford it if it were more often - but he’s not sure if the  _ city _ would survive a fight between the Black Wizard and a man mad enough to assassinate him.

And then the assassin, Reborn, acts like a scorned lover, and Zeref  _ reacts _ to it. He flinches like a man stabbed, hunching into himself and taking a very defensive posture.

Makarov doesn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he’s spent two hours walking with a boy who doesn’t look a day over sixteen, who hasn’t done a single thing worth a reputation as bloody as the Black Wizard’s in that time, and who currently looks  _ scared _ .

His instincts, as both a father and a grandfather, are surprisingly difficult to ignore.

“I’m afraid we’re rather in the middle of something right now,” he says, and perhaps-Zeref flinches again, more subtly this time.

“No I-” he shakes his head, and drops a stack of jewels on the counter. Makarov can see blood on them. “Just box them up, I’ll collect them later.”

Reborn walks closer with careful, measured steps, and stops just outside of touching distance.

It feels like the world holds its breath, though Makarov isn’t sure why.

* * *

Zeref hadn’t realized Reborn had noticed. He hadn’t known, himself, after all. He shouldn’t be surprised the assassin was so observant, but being called out on his feelings, in  _ Fairy Tail _ of all places, makes everything feel like a dream. Unreal and insubstantial and- and  _ fake _ somehow.

But Reborn doesn’t disappear, and the guild doesn’t either, and even that purple-haired immortal, Skull, lingers in the assassin’s wake, awkwardly sending Zeref concerned glances before quickly glancing around to stare at anything else if Zeref notices.

Zeref should have known Reborn would catch up the moment he stumbled across Lenna. Karma, maybe. Everything going the exact opposite of how he wanted it to.

He tries not to think about how much he’s missed his theoretical discussions with Reborn.

He gets the feeling that’s not what Reborn wants to talk about, this time.

“He can wait-” Makarov starts, and Zeref wonders at the man’s suddenly protective attitude, when before the guild Master was all cold caution, but it’s not important.

“No, it’s fine.”

It isn’t, but cornered like this, Zeref can only admit to himself that running away isn’t going to fix anything.

He’s not even sure Mavis would be willing to help him ignore everything, even if he tried to hide away on her island. She’d probably just ask him prodding questions until he finally gave up and went to deal with it anyway.

He has no idea how to talk to Reborn on a personal level.

They’ve never really cared to try, before.

He doesn’t think he can have this conversation anywhere near Magnolia - anywhere Mavis’ presence is so strong, so he steps forward, walking past Reborn and letting his magic sweep them away.

It’d be easier if he touched the man, really, but he.

He can’t bring himself to do that.

He-

Doesn’t think he can handle anyone else dying in his arms.

“That’s… Era, right?” Reborn asks, sounding curious. “Wouldn’t they detect your magic? We aren’t far out.”

Zeref glances over at the city in the distance, and…

“Maybe? I haven’t visited Era in almost a century. If they show up we’ll deal with it then.” He turns his gaze to Reborn and realizes he has no idea what to say.

“I’ve come up with a theory.” The assassin says after he realizes Zeref won’t. “So let’s start there. One of your cults experimented on Skull, making him immortal. Which, I’ll be honest, is still a little surprising. I didn’t think it was something  _ other _ people could do to you, I always thought immortality was something people pursued for themselves. You’ll have to explain to me how that works later. But it was Skull that made me realize - the same thing happened to you as well. Right?” He tilts his head, hat shading his eyes. Zeref feels like he’s being studied regardless. “Someone took you, oh, I don’t know how many years ago, and experimented on you the way your cultists experimented on Skull. You’re Old Blood, and everyone knows the ancient families died with Ethelos - I looked into that, it seems like there was something of a genocide. So. Someone finds out you’re a surviving descendant of one of the ancient families, experiments, makes you immortal. And you decide to get revenge, which is how you get your reputation. And eventually you decide you want to die, but you can’t. So you run away and hide, and everyone thinks you’re dead until eventually I end up taking this job. And you let me try to kill you, because you’ve got nothing to lose. Either I’ll succeed, and you’ll be free, or I won’t, and nothing will change. But then you started running away, so clearly  _ something’s _ changed. Are you trying to protect me?”

Zeref.

Should probably say something. 

But-

He never really thought about what he must look like to other people. Outside of his reputation as the Black Wizard, anyway. Mavis took one look at him and knew the truth, realized what’d happened, so he never really thought to wonder about what other conclusions people might reach about how he ended up like this.

He’s not sure he’s ready to tell Reborn the truth. 

Or anyone, for that matter.

But there’s one thing he can say.

“You aren’t in any danger. I’m not protecting you from anything.”

A tense line Zeref hadn’t realized was there drops from Reborn’s shoulders, and Zeref wonders if it’s because Reborn’s glad there’s not a threat, or glad Zeref wasn’t trying to ‘protect’ him.

“Then why?” Reborn asks, completely casual, as though it’s just another question on runes or leylines or spell theory.

Zeref’s not sure if he can say  _ I don’t want to die _ out loud.

Isn’t even sure if it’s true yet, still can’t  _ believe _ it might be true even with all the evidence supporting it.

But he owes Reborn an answer, at the least.

“Because- you’re likely to succeed soon. If we keep going the way we have.” He’s not sure what to say after that,  _ how _ to say everything else, and so he settles for staring at Reborn, hoping the assassin will just read it in his face.

There’s a sharp intake of breath, and Reborn’s magic settles into something deathly-calm.

* * *

_ He doesn’t want to die. _

Is Reborn’s first thought, followed by:

_ I made him stop wanting to die. _

Because how else can he interpret Zeref’s flinch back in the guild hall, when Reborn accused them of having something emotional between them.

And the reason he didn’t fight that night on the continent, is because of  _ Skull _ . Because he’d spoken to Skull, and was so… horrified? Upset? Angry? To learn that his cultists were doing to other people what’d been done to him that he  _ would _ have been willing to die that night, didn’t even want to fight, probably  _ hoped _ Reborn would succeed.

But for the most part.

He’s running from Reborn because  _ Reborn _ made him want to live.

He’s not sure where to go from here, how to respond to this, because yes, he’s fond of Zeref, mostly fond of the lessons the man offers so freely, but he’s always been in this with the knowledge that he would eventually kill the Black Wizard. He’s never really considered the possibility of failing the job, of  _ cancelling _ it.

Part of him wonders at the challenge of trying to kill Zeref while the wizard  _ fights back _ .

The rest-

_ Considers. _

His reputation is his own, and already he’s more famous than ever for even trying in the first place.

It’s not as though anyone would be foolish enough to call him a coward if he cancelled the hit, expect perhaps the one who tried to hire him.

And Reborn is more than capable of  _ dealing _ with someone like that.

_ So what would I get? _

Fame and glory beyond measure, if he actually killed Zeref. No one would ever doubt he was the greatest assassin alive again.

Or.

A… companion. Perhaps. He’s never really tried to put a word to his and Zeref’s… interactions, never tried to name it. Zeref was a target, no matter how fascinating or engaging.

So he’d be… a companion. Like Leon. Except instead of eating Reborn’s books he’d debate them.

And as for Reborn’s reputation-

Well.

He might have a couple ideas for  _ that _ .

He offers the Wizard a smirk. “Well. If you’re going to be  _ that _ forward- I suppose you owe me dinner. The Sienna, in Adak.”

Zeref stutters out a rejection, stepping away from Reborn with a conflicted look on his face. Reborn lets his smirk settle into a wide grin. “Oh no. I was offered ten billion jewels for your head. If you don’t want me to kill you, then you owe me ten billion jewels worth of dinner. I’m afraid your spell knowledge is just  _ priceless _ , you see? So it can’t count towards the debt I’m afraid. You’ll have to pay that off in other ways.”

Zeref opens his mouth, clearly intending to argue, when a fire lance crashes into the earth between them.

Reborn sighs, magic leaping to his fingers.

_ Fools. _


End file.
